Take-Two have revealed its earnings for the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, earning a cool $288 million in net revenue for the period between July 1st and September 30th, up a staggering 169% compared to last year . The company attributed much of that to the continued success of Borderlands 2 (which has now shipped over 5 million copies) and NBA 2K13 that “is shaping up to be our most successful sports release ever.”
CEO Strauss Zelnick called digitally-delivered content an “important component of our strategy” and said digital content is up 108%, representing 20% of net revenue. “Take-Two’s second quarter revenue and earnings exceeded our outlook, driven by the breakout success of 2K’s Borderlands 2 and robust demand for our catalogue and digitally delivered offerings,” Zelnick said. “Our business continues to fire on all cylinders, led by terrific early results from 2K’s NBA 2K13.”
Zelnick was also quick to praise NBA 2K mobile and social apps as great successes. COO Karl Slatoff noted that 2K is “exploring bringing the game to additional mobile devices.” The hotly anticipated upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on iOS and Android was also mentioned.
Admirably, Zelnick also took a moment of pause to reflect on Hurricane Sandy which has devastated the east coast of America. “We’ve witnessed and experienced a pretty tough couple of days; our own headquarters have been displaced by the events. Our team has done an extraordinary job of conducting business as usual despite that”. He also noted that entertainment pales in comparison to the events of the superstorm wishing the best to anyone affected.
Looking ahead Zelnick also commented on proposed development costs for the next generation of consoles, quelling investors fears of the misconception that next-gen games will be harder or cost more to manufacture. “Do we believe that titles will be a lot more expensive to make next gen? The answer is we do not,” he said. “In many instances we believe it may be somewhat easier to make titles for next gen depending on how the technology comes together.”
